Julius Thomas steps up

Doc BearAug 27, 2013 1:00 PM

The naysayers in Broncos Land spent much of the two summers prior to this one calling for Julius Thomas to be cut. Denver had drafted Thomas out of Portland State in the fourth round of the 2011 Draft, taking a flyer on a player who could go either way. Julius had only started into football during the 2009 season; he had walked into the office of head coach Nigel Burton and asked if he could walk onto the team that spring.

Burton said that Thomas was welcome, but privately he had reservations. How would a guy who hadn’t played football since Pop Warner react to what happens when a tight end goes over the middle and gets laid out by a linebacker? But Burton talked to the other folks in the athletic department, and got glowing recommendations from all of them. It turned out that Thomas had wanted to get back into football a year earlier, but the basketball coach was against it. Given Thomas’s size and natural skill level, there was no reason prevent the guy from playing football if he wanted to, and could show it on the field.

Despite the coach’s early misgivings, the first time Julius took a big hit from a linebacker in college, he jumped back up as if he'd enjoyed it. At that point, Burton knew he had a potentially solid player on his hands.

Nigel Burton’s reaction wasn’t that different from the people who wanted to end the Julius Thomas experiment after his first training camp. The same group’s reaction became more vocal when Thomas missed all but four games last season with an injury; he had struggled in his rookie year with injuries as well. He’s put that behind him this training camp, and has four receptions in each of Denver's three preseason games, for a total of 123 yards and a 10.3-yard average. His blocking has improved noticeably, and although he had a ball stripped in the Seattle game, that’s just part of developing into a top NFL player - you’re going to get owned a few times along the way. The only question is whether the player learns from it. So far, Thomas has - and quickly.

"I played football a lot when I was younger," Thomas told MaxPreps in 2011. "I played Pop Warner in seventh and eighth grade. Football was a big part of my life. I spent a lot of time watching the game."

Thomas learned a lot in the film room and on the practice field during his first two seasons, but he had no way to prove it. Coach John Fox has said that if there had been room for Thomas to play late in the 2012 season, he would've gotten Julius on the field. When your team is on a long winning streak, though, you don't make changes if you can avoid them.

Now, it's a new year with a new set of possibilities. Thomas has obviously worked very hard on both his physical body and his understanding of the game. He's had two seasons to pick the brains of teammates Jacob Tamme and Joel Dreessen, and to spend as much time as he wanted to watching film. From the moment he walked into OTAs, it was obvious that he'd spent his time well.

His solid performance in OTAs was all well and good, but most people wanted to wait and see how he did in pads. Moving from a short college career into the NFL is a huge leap upwards in terms of the violence of physical contact. Even in training camp, you're going to see, hear, and feel some tremendous hits.

So far, Julius has shown that he can take it all in stride. His blocking has improved, and that's a very difficult area for a tight end just coming out of college to learn. He understands routes very well for a young player who has not had much time on the field, and his experience in the low post, boxing out in basketball, has served him very well in using his body to defeat the defender and catch the ball. He had to find out how defenders will strip the ball if you don’t have it protected in the Rams game, but that’s part of the learning curve too.

In basketball, you never catch the ball with your body. You reach your hands out and you pluck it from the air - and then lock it into position in your arm(s). That skill is one of the reasons that so many organizations have tried to take basketball players from college and turn them into NFL tight ends. It usually hasn't worked out, although there are outstanding exceptions such as Antonio Gates. What I believe makes the difference with Thomas is that it was his choice to seek out the football program - no one came to him with a proposal. He just decided to follow in his father’s footsteps - his father Greg Thomas had a promising college career as a receiver until a knee injury ended that dream. Julius was incredibly athletic, liked football, and knew he wasn’t NBA material (the low post isn’t the right place for a guy who’s 6-5). To him, it just made sense to go to the tight end position.

It still only preseason, but with injuries to Jacob Tamme and Joel Dreessen, Julius has seen plenty of extra playing time. He's making the most of it, too. Denver is counting on developing their youth to maintain a high level program over an extended period of time. If they do as well with some of the others as they have with players like Wesley Woodyard, Rahim Moore, Duke Ihenacho, and Julius Thomas, the future looks bright indeed.

The term that I kept seeing when I was researching Thomas was ‘physical freak’. At 6-5 and 250 lb, with soft hands and a rugged inner toughness, there’s something about his silky moves that have already (and perhaps prematurely) had Gil Brandt describe him as a bigger Shannon Sharpe. His athleticism and drive haven’t had a chance to come out until now, but that’s changing.

It looks like the Sheriff's got a new deputy in town.

Learn to laugh at yourself. You will be ceaselessly amused. - Sri Gary Olsen

You can reach Doc at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or follow him on Twitter @alloverfatman

You're right. And, the term 'project' appears, to many, to refer to someone who will miraculously come to camp with all their issues resolved. Strange old world.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2013-08-28 20:20:07

People will refer to a guy as a project on draft day and then act disappointed when he shows up in camp with some rough edges.

Posted by Yahmule on 2013-08-28 09:14:38

As I said I did not see the last game and am commenting n the first two games. I'm aware that blocking is last on the skill values that develop. Take Shannon Sharpe it took him years to block on the LOS and was never great there downfield for other ball carriers devastating.

My comments were going forward his blocking should be his priority.

While he may have put a de on his ass once I suspect if you take all his blocks so far he wood not be near the level of either Tamme or Dreissen are. Therefore he needs to learn that skill.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-28 08:21:02

Well said, AB. Thanks for chiming in.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2013-08-28 04:01:43

All I can say is to look again, my friend. The OL (including TE blocking) is what I enjoy the most and I've seen quite a few blocks from him (including one that blew a defender straight back off the line).

Fox has pointed out repeatedly that blocking is the last skill most TEs who can catch develop. Thomas is leading the team in catches with 12 and is tied for the lead in yards. Given that his blocking is perfectly normal for his point in time, he's got a lot of potential.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2013-08-28 04:00:14

I've been in Europe and did not see the rams game so my comment has been based on the whiffs is had seen prior.

It only takes one whiff to get your QB killed.

The whiffs are the ones that stick out. The good blocks usually go unnoticed. While I'm usually watching the LOS play at the expense of the rest of the game. I can't say I've seen him make outstanding blocks.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-28 03:30:04

I enjoyed this article too. Too many fans expect too much from rookies, especially mid-late rounders. It was very reasonable to use a fourth round pick on a good athlete who had a lot of potential due to his athletic ability.Even if it turned out that JT would not become a contributor after several years of wearing the orange and blue it still would not have been too big of a loss to miss out with a fourth round pick. Another benefit of drafting a big guy with speed, agility and good hands is that skill set is the prototype for the "hands" team on kickoff returns.

Posted by Arctic Bronco on 2013-08-28 00:53:54

Good to hear, boydy. Nice to have you in town :D

Posted by Doc Bear on 2013-08-27 23:44:50

Great article Doc. Really enjoyed it!

Posted by boydy2669 on 2013-08-27 23:14:28

Doc,Again thank you for a nice write up.Your use of the term "naysayers" got me thinking. There are times when I believed that only you and I believed, and were willing to publicly admit, that there was value, sometimes great value, in players like J. Thomas, Ihenacho, D. Thomas ("an injury waiting to happen"), Moore ("out of his element"), Osweiler ("who needs to draft a QB when we're in a win now situation"), Ramirez ("a lug who will never develop into anyting"), Jackson ("who?"), & Wolfe ("better players available who were missed").Even yet there are those who noticed that JT missed a block on the FG attempt (special teams assignments during pre-season should be regarded with great skepticism factoring the extensive use of marginal personnel [Klee should be disregarded totally as not worth the trouble]) and totally missed a couple of good to great blocks, one that drove a DL back about 6 yards.I envision, in my minds fantasies, several of the bloggers on this site as weighing about 600 lbs because of all of the crow that they are eating (but they probably are not aware enough to even realize that it is crow that they are eating).Bloggers who see potential interest me.Bloggers who see nothing until proven assets bore me. Understandably, I skip lots of bloggers (fortunately some of the most frequent ones who IMO have little to say).IMO JT "blocking issues" will prove to be of little consequence. He is a contemporary talent who can and will only be hampered by injury, which, hopefully will be a non factor.I think JT will factor significantly this year and into the future - but I've been saying this on this site for some time.

Posted by ivanthenotsobad on 2013-08-27 20:09:22

ColinskiYou know more than you admit. (you always know more than you admit). As you indicate, the last couple of years have been years in which the place of the TE has gone through some changes and developments. Though some might have a handle on what it all means, there will IMO be more coming, and it will be fun to watch. Also, IMO JT may be a prototype of the developing role of the TE.

Posted by ivanthenotsobad on 2013-08-27 19:44:08

Well said

Posted by GreasyQtip on 2013-08-27 18:28:25

Trying to reason evidence with a conservative, child please

He saw one block missed this once

Posted by GreasyQtip on 2013-08-27 18:25:20

He had some nice blocks against the Rams - he's come a long way in a short time. I agree, though, that he still has more to learn. I think that he'll get there.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2013-08-27 18:19:31

We already saw a lot of that during the little bit in the pre-season. About the only way to stop this pass game is to get at Manning in a heartbeat.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2013-08-27 17:52:26

I don't care about anyone's fantasy team (and why would I?). The only important thing is how he can help the Broncos win games.

Posted by billyricky on 2013-08-27 17:24:17

Regarding naysayers -- I was just backtracking to see who belonged in that club, but my recollection is that opinions diverged with no discernable pattern. There were logical reasons to doubt him but there were also logical reasons to hold out hope.

More than simply a story about an inexperienced player succeeding however, there's a potenially interesting story about the TE position itself. Much of the debate over whether of not we should keep J. Thomas revolved around the question of keeping 4 TEs. Those in favor of keeping Thomas often advocated for cutting another TE, say Tamme. And my impression was that the decision wasn't so much about the respective player as the mathematical tyranny of the Turk. Four TEs seemed to be too many, but the questions is: was it?

27 NFL teams kept 4 TEs last year. It's a startling figure. And it points to changes in the game that have occurred even while we thought we were paying attention. In part, it's a story of the demise of the FB, who became obsolescent with the rise of the passing game. But it's also a story of versatility and matchup problems. Not only has the lead blocker moved up to the LOS but his chameleon role allowed for adaptations as the play developed. More than simply a story of performing a needed team function, it's a story of logistics and the complex interplay of strategy.

I'm not the person to knowledgably address this issue but I raise it despite that, in the hope the others will take up the challenge. For one; in my initial speculation on the 3 WR formation, my guess is that rest for Welker will come from adding TEs. Holliday may be his backup but only in name. Moreover, there's a whole array of objectives we can accomplish with 'beefier' players.

Posted by colinski2 on 2013-08-27 17:21:34

I heard him being interviewed the other day. He seems like a very bright young man. He was very cognizant of how much he had to learn when he got to Denver and he didn't waste the last two years. He has better raw physical tools than any TE Manning has played with in the past.

Posted by Yahmule on 2013-08-27 16:51:33

I'm a believer in his future! I drafted him in my Fantasy league last night as my 2nd TE and the reaction I got from fellow FFB guys in the chat window was "who?" and "srsly?" Haha. The SI FFB preview mag I have was written earlier this summer but doesn't even list Thomas among fantasy TEs. They will have egg on their face. (Though I think the vets and also Green will get their share, too. And JT does still need to improve blocking, as noted here.) But if he stays healthy now, I'm excited.

Posted by underdog on 2013-08-27 16:31:09

He may be a stud catching the ball but being a matador at blocking will need all of his attention, from this point on.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2013-08-27 16:02:36

Thanks again Doc! It's always amazing how injuries to first-teamers can allow just enough development time to guys with talent, but who up to that point haven't had enough experience to break through. Sometimes bad luck begets good luck - with the requisite hard work of course.

Posted by SteveS on 2013-08-27 15:21:54

The guys over at MHR had an interesting insight, when JT is on the field we have four weapons, Decker, DT, Welker and JT. So we can run out the 11 set the entire game and they'll never have a guy to cover all four receivers. Hence JT will enjoy a breakout year. It makes pretty good sense and I, for one, am excited to watch it develop.

Posted by David Brauchli on 2013-08-27 14:46:30

After initially being somewhat skeptical of camp reports touting Thomas's skill and potential for a breakout (after all, this is the 3rd camp that has produced the same stories), I am now fully on board with the idea. I saw him up close and personally when I attended one of the practices earlier in camp, and I came away impressed. I think he'll be a contributor in this offense if he stays healthy. Also, let's hope we don't see him allowing any more blocked field goals.

Posted by SterlingMalloryArcher on 2013-08-27 13:57:41

As Elway said: We dont draft pro-bowlers - we make em....

Posted by denverkewl on 2013-08-27 13:55:21

Good write up Doc. The Shannon Sharpe comparison will be complete when Julius has the swagger and calls the President proclaiming, "We need the National Guard...we're killing the Patriots! Help is on the way!!!" Week 12 and in the playoffs would be just fine for me. Go Broncos!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Posted by iowabronco on 2013-08-27 13:36:45

Great mention about 'blocking out' similarities between the sports. Often thought that some of those defensive recognition skills could transfer from B-ball to football. Being able to hit somebody is one thing...but you have to be in the right position first to make that hit productive.